Thursday, February 9, 2012

ELA - Tech Project - Idioms

I know this is not a science post but I thought I would share anyway as many followers teach a lot of different subjects or know people who might be able to use a fun ELA idea.

Today I worked with a fifth grade ELA class rounding out their study of idioms. In an effort to better integrate technology into the classroom I came up with this cute and easy Guess that Idiom project using PowerPoint.

Students were given five idioms and had to use clip art to represent their idioms on one slide and then give the definition on the next slide. The students learned (or put into practice things they learned) about setting up a project and saving (not as second nature as you would think :)

We also talked about Google searches and how to narrow your search criteria by adding key words. For example, instead of typing in "Fit as a Fiddle" type in "Fit as a Fiddle Idiom."

The secondary ELA strategy we focused on in the lesson was paraphrasing. We discussed what it is, why it is important, and how to do it correctly (an important lesson in ELA when most children just want to copy the definition straight from the internet).

Our ELA blocks are mandated by the district at 100 minutes so we had a lot of time to work on the project. For people with less time I would definitely recommend allotting two class periods. Students who were done early were allowed to change the slide design and add transitions.

I'm glad you found the project helpful! I always hesitate to post non science stuff. I think a Voice Thread would be very cute. I decided to go with PowerPoint because of the clip art. Our district blocks so many images and I can't find a good free image site (but I'm looking :)

I know the parents of two of the children and the kids came up to me afterschool and said that my lesson was WAY more fun then what they normally do in class (which always makes me smile...at least they like to see me coming :)

About this Blog

I started this blog many years ago as a classroom science teacher with the express purpose of sharing notebooking ideas with other educators. I have since moved into a technology coach position within our district so this site has morphed into a general teaching blog. Basically anything that I see or do in schools that I think is pretty cool gets highlighted here. If you are visiting to find notebooking information please look at my earlier posts. I have tried to label all my posts so information is easier to find...so, when in doubt look at the labels. As always, if you have any question please feel free to email me and I will do my best to help!